


criar

by alwaysbuddy (kamsangi)



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Canon Compliant, Character Study, Coping/Coming To Terms With Loss, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Kid Fic, Mentions of Shara's death, Nostalgia, Parent Death, Poe is the Force's favourite child, Possibly inaccurate arboriculture techniques, Pre-Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-01-05
Packaged: 2021-03-16 17:41:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28585914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kamsangi/pseuds/alwaysbuddy
Summary: When Poe is nine years old, he accidentally sets fire to the tree in his backyard.Alternatively: A brief history of the uneti tree on Yavin IV and its young caretaker.
Relationships: Kes Dameron & Poe Dameron, Poe Dameron & Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Poe Dameron & Finn & Rey, Poe Dameron & Grogu | Baby Yoda, Poe Dameron & Luke Skywalker, Poe Dameron & The Uneti Tree
Kudos: 11





	criar

**Author's Note:**

> _"[...] Poe Dameron, who often played on the growing Force tree as a child, rigged a pair of old podracer engines to his father's koyo picker in order to pick their koyo grove. The exhaust from the engines singed the tree, so Kes made his son spend the next year nursing the tree to health."_ \- Wookiepedia (Poe Dameron, Flight Log)

On the grass: a basket of freshly picked koyo melons, pink and sweet. Beside it: Kes’ koyo picker that he’d bought second-hand from a man in town, neatly parked. And, rigged to the back of the picker: twin podracer engines, faintly smoking.

“Poe Dameron,” Kes says in the most disappointed voice Poe has ever heard in his entire nine long years of life, “what were you doing?”

“Picking melons,” Poe says, voice tiny.

Kes’ eyebrow twitches. “I don’t recall our koyo picker having thrusters.”

As if on autopilot, Poe’s big mouth opens and says, “They’re not thrusters, they’re the KRT 670E turboshaft engine mods.”

For a long moment, his dad stands so still that Poe wonders if he’s fallen asleep. Then, Kes sighs, and mutters, “Force above, grant me the patience to deal with this wise-ass kid.”

“You said a bad word,” Poe points out.

 _“Poe,”_ Kes says, teeth gritted, “you set the uneti tree on _fire.”_

“It was an accident! And—and it wasn’t on fire! I only singed it a little.” He’s really in trouble now, isn’t he? He honestly hadn’t meant to. His dad had been complaining last week about how long it took to pick the koyo grove each time it was ready for harvest. Poe had just thought to himself that maybe he could help his dad pick them quicker.

He glances over at the tree. Its bark, normally a pale brown, has turned black in several places. To one side, a bunch of shriveled leaves have fallen on the ground. It definitely hadn’t been on fire, but it didn’t escape getting scorched. What—what if the tree feels pain? What if Poe had hurt it? A pang of guilt strikes Poe. He feels awful.

“Poe,” comes Kes’ voice, and it’s gentler now. He’s kneeling down beside Poe, one hand on his shoulder. “You have to be more careful. You could have hurt yourself going that fast. And we—I’ve told you lots of times to be careful with the tree too.”

“Because it’s Luke Skywalker’s special tree,” Poe recites dutifully. He knows what it is. He doesn’t remember it because he was a baby when it happened, but he’s heard the story enough from his parents.

“No,” Kes says, patting Poe’s shoulder. “It’s _your_ special tree, now. You have to help it get better again.”

Poe blinks up at him. “I don’t know how.”

“I’ll teach you,” Kes says patiently, “but it’ll be your responsibility to take care of it.”

Poe doesn’t want responsibility. He wants to race pods across the lake near their house, and play Jedi versus Sith with his friends, and climb the tall, skinny branches of the special tree to look up at the stars.

“You can’t climb the tree if it’s damaged,” Kes replies. “Not until it’s better.”

Poe really wants to climb the tree again. It’s the tallest tree he’s ever seen. It’s going to get even taller too, he thinks. Mama had always said that it was still a baby tree, even younger than Poe is. Maybe one day it’ll be taller than all the mountains on Yavin IV and he’ll climb all the way to the top and catch a cloud. “Okay,” he says eventually.

Kes smooths his hair down. “Atta boy,” he says. “Come on, let’s get the koyo in the house before the stintarils come out.”

As his dad goes to fetch the basket of melons, Poe trudges over to the tree, his hands fidgeting by his sides. It looms over him, the blackened bits of bark standing out sharply in the light of the setting sun. “Sorry,” he whispers to the tree. “I didn’t mean to.”

The tree’s branches sway in response.

“I’ll take care of you,” he promises.

As Poe turns to head up to the house, something brushes against his ear, making him whip back around.

There’s nothing there.

He stares at the tree. That’s weird. “Don’t do that,” he says to the air.

The tree’s branches just sway again.


End file.
